to protect them. They say he and his men are especially familiar and influential in that county, and could in every way render them most essential aid, while recruiting and refreshing themselves and their animals.

These views strike me as just, and I hope may meet with such favorable consideration on your part as to induce the order to Colonel Munford to enter on the service at once.

In conclusion, allow me to assure you that no discrimination to the disadvantage of your brave army shall be made in the distribution of our limited supplies. On the contrary, I have melancholy grounds for the belief that one or more of our other armies are, on the average, enduring more serious privations than yours. There is the wish to deal equal measure to all, and the only differences that exist result from causes, sometimes accidental, contravening the designs of the Department.

With high esteem, very respectfully, yours,

J. A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
March 31, 1863.

Brigadier General WADE HAMPTON,

Commanding Cavalry Brigade:

GENERAL: I have received your letter of the 7th instant, and think you deserve the thanks of the country for the importation of the rifled Blakely guns you mention. In my own behalf, I cordially give you mine.

The artillery companies of this army hav, agreeably to the order of the War Department, been detached from the brigades of which they were formerly considered as forming part, and organized into distinct battalions, under field officers of artillery. I consider this an advantageous change, as the artillery can now be detached or massed as circumstances may require. I think it would be advantageous to apply the same principle to the horse artillery. Where brigades are operating separately, they should be supplied with one or more batteries, as necessity dictates. I do not think it advisable that more than one battery should be permanently attached to a brigade, but if our means allow of the organization of more than one battery of horse artillery to each brigade, that they should constitute a reserve battalion, to be used whenever necessary.

It will give me pleasure to assign to you all the guns that you have imported whenever practicable, but I do not now see that we can organize more horse artillery companies than we already have, as the difficulty of procuring horses is so great that I fear I shall be obliged to reduce the artillery of the army, and return some of its guns to the Ordnance Department.

Captain Bachman's battery belongs to a battalion in General Longstreet's corps which is now operating with him in North Carolina.

We shall be obliged to rely on imported ammunition for the use of the Blakely guns, as its manufacture requires so much expense and time as to prevent its preparation at our arsenals, and, in addition, it consumes so much lead that it is found impossible to supply it without interfering with the other demands for that article. I doubt, therefore the prudence of placing all these Blakely guns with one brigade, lest